FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships Hamburg 2019 presented by comdirect & ALDI Nord

© Beach Majors/SHM (zum Download anklicken) World Champs schedule released

Who will play who, where and when at the eagerly anticipated Beach Volleyball World Championships in Hamburg. The FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships Hamburg 2019 presented by comdirect and ALDI Nord feels that little bit closer following the announcement of the 144-match pool play schedule. It’s now so close you can almost feel the goosebumps with the action due to get under way on Friday, June 28 – a day which promises be one to remember with a host of former World Champions on the sand. Three former champs are involved in the first scheduled matches of the tournament at 10am CET. 2007 winner Phil Dalhausser and teammate Nick Lucena of the United States meet Argentinians Julian Azaad and Nicholas Capogrosso on court 3, while 2013 champs Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen of the Netherlands face Ben Saxton and Grant O’Gorman of Canada on court 2. Then the Red Bull Beach Arena opens its doors for the first game at 1pm CET that will see women’s number one seeds Chantal Laboureur and Sandra Ittlinger of host nation Germany take on Paraguay’s Patricia Caballero and Michelle Valiente.  Reigning champion Laura Ludwig and her new partner Maggie Kozuch aim to get off to a winning start when they take on Americans Kelley Larsen and Emily Stockman on the Red Bull Beach Arena at 6pm CET. Germany's Laura Ludwig and new teammate Maggie Kozuch battle it out in the #MaritimeMatch against the Czech Republic's Markéta Sluková and Barbora Hermannová on the river Elbe in Hamburg ahead of the World Champs. © Beach Majors/SHM (click to download) Men’s number one seeds Anders Mol and Christian Sørum of Norway also headline the opening day, as they take to the Red Bull Beach Arena at 7.15pm CET to face Cuba’s Sergio Gonzalez and Luis Reyes. Also in action on day one is the United States’ three-time champion Kerri Walsh Jennings, as she and Brooke Sweat take on Dutch duo Joy Stubbe and Marleen van Iersel on the Center Court at 3pm CET. Reigning men’s champions, Brazil’s André Loyola Stein and Evandro Gonçalves Oliveira Júnior, get the defence of their title under way with new teammates on day two, Saturday, June 29. Evandro and Bruno Oscar Schmidt – the 2015 champion – take to the Red Bull Beach Arena at 2pm CET to play Australians Cole Durant and Damien Schumann, while André and George Wanderley face Austrians Robin Seidl and Phillip Waller on the main court at 7.15pm CET. Also a big pull on day two will be Germany’s number one men’s team, Julius Thole and Clemens Wickler, who play their first game of the championships against Patrick Kavalo and Olivier Ntagengwa of Rwanda on the Red Bull Beach Arena at 1pm CET. © Beach Majors/Kunkel (click to download) The match schedule will feature 28 games on three courts for the first four days of competition with the women’s pool play ending on Tuesday, July 2 with the final round of men’s group matches taking place the following day, July 3. The top two pairs in each pool will advance to the 32-team elimination bracket along with the four ‘best’ third-place duos based on match points, set-point ratios and/or rally-point ratios. A Lucky Loser round for the teams ranked fifth through 12th will be played with the four winners advancing to the elimination bracket. The Lucky Loser matches for women take place on July 2 with the men’s following the next day. For the elimination phase of the competition, there will be a re-draw to place each team in the bracket based on their pool standings with the 12 pool winners being seeded No. 1 to No. 12, and the third-place finishers, including the Lucky Losers, being seeded No. 25 through No. 32. The second-place finishers in each pool will be seeded No. 13 through No. 24. The women’s semi-finals and medal matches will be played Saturday, July 6. The men’s semi-finals will also be contested July 6 with the medal matches played on the final day of the tournament, Sunday, July 7. The winning men’s and women’s teams will split the USD 60,000 first-place prizes. Let the games begin… see you in Hamburg! Click here for the full pool play schedule